The Write Stuff! (Text-Venture Contest Redux)

In the dark age of 2011...A select cadre of battle-clad authors competed for dominance on the threshing floor of literary elegance. Stripped of sound, images and color, these champions nevertheless enthralled their audience with their written word. Crimes, drama, literacy education, and a touch of time-travel delighted the combatants and spectators alike. Eventually, a victor was chosen, but impressive feats had been accomplished by all!

Now...5 years...er 4 years and a few weeks...
...some amount of time later...

THE DOORS HAVE RE-OPENED!

What's all this then?
This is a text-based adventure contest! Leave your tablets and art pens at the door, this is going to be a battle waged with words!

Here's how it's going to go down:
Signups will run for 1 week!
Interested parties can register below, You may join as an individual, or as a team!.
Once you register you will be assigned a random setting and tone from the following lists.

Western, Sci-fi, Medieval, Modern, Dystopian, Prehistoric, Superhero, ______punk, Office, Animal, Underwater

Horror, Romance, Fantasy, Buddy Cop, Crime, Road Trip, Political, Educational, Biography, How-To, and Children's.

Once your setting and tone have been assigned, you may spend the remaining time planning your adventure - however you must wait for 72 hours from this post to start! (Applicants will still be accepted until March 13th forum time)

Queries and Clarifications
Q: How will this contest be judged?

A: By a trio of judges including Mirdini, __________, and myself!
It will be judged on such criteria as creativity, clarity of conception, skill at establishing as dialogue and scene... but foremost on one very important thing: Is it entertaining? Does it hooks your readers, and make them chomp at the bit for your next update? Aka: "Is it fun?"

Q: Is there an applicant limit?

A: Nope! Only the one week time limit for signups!

Q: What if I don't like my assigned setting/tone?

A: Ask for a re-do! The setting and tone are meant to help you springboard your adventure, not hinder its progress. If you find yourself having difficulty planning out an engaging story, just ask for a new starting point!

Q: So no images at all?

A: You can toss in an image or two for flair if you'd like, but for judging purposes it will probably be ignored. A good rule of thumb is, if you have images and your adventure significantly drops in quality if they're removed - then you should focus on how you can rely on your writing more!

Q: How long will the contest run?

A: One month from the starting date! After that point, additional updates are welcome and encouraged, but probably won't go contribute to consideration of contest winners.

Further questions are also welcomed!

Combatants:
1. AgentBlue: ____punk Biography
2. Dragon Fogel: Dystopian Buddy Cop
3. Schazer: Superhero Horror
4. Robust Laser: Superhero Educational
5. Sanzh: Medieval Political
6. Anomaly: Superhero How-To
7. Paranoia and Sai: Underwater Political
-1. AgentBlue???: Prehistory Educational

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Spoiler

A LARGE EDIT:
If you happen to get "___punk" and would like help with what kind of punk to do:

Step one: go to this and set min to 1 and max to 40 then roll:

Cyberpunk:
1-6 Cyberpunk
7-9 Nanopunk or Biopunk
10 Post-Cyberpunk
grab bag:
11 splatterpunk
12 Elfpunk
13 mythpunk
14 Mannerspunk
Timepunk:
15 stonepunk
16 bronzepunk
17 sandalpunk/classicpunk/ironpunk
18-19 Candlepunk/castlepunk/middlepunk/plaguepunk/dungeonpunk
20-21 Dieselpunk/Teslapunk
22 Atomicpunk/Transistorpunk
23-24 Spacepunk/Retrofuturepunk
25-31 Steampunk
32-35 Clockpunk
stuff I just made up
36-37 Tribepunk (animist tribal societies--perhaps mesoamerican, native n. & s. american, Mali empire--with advanced technology)
38 Pharoahpunk (egyptian society with advanced technology, throwing a bone to all of those conspiracy theorists who think egyptians were visited by aliens)
39 Darwinpunk (hyper-acceleration in evolution of animals (probably from human fuckery) or different evolutionary branches allows interchange of thoughts and technology that different species have developed for themselves with humans, leading to a intraspecies-multicultural experience, probably clashes in different technologies)
40 Samuraipunk (Medieval Japan with advanced technology)

Step two: Fudge rolls until desired outcome

Update: See update post here! Round 1 Accolades:

Wait, was a victor chosen?

Holy shit it was five years ago, that is scary

Also, in I guess.

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Sign me up, I can totally handle another textventure.

Yeah go on

I'm not promising anything but I'm going to sign up to at least see if I get a prompt that inspires me.

Excellent! Just some reminders: Your adventure prompts can be found in the first post. You can request a re-roll if you'd prefer.

Start time will be Wednesday, at 3 PM forum time, but signups will still run through the week.

I'd sign up, but I've got wayyy too many personal projects going on already right now. I might join next round, if there is one.

And we're off!

Please notate "(TWS)" in the title of your thread!

Also, don't forget to check out everyone's adventure and toss in your comments!

As a side note, if anyone is interested in reading these forthcoming text ventures and would like to secretly critique them as a member of a shady collective, send me a PM about becoming a judge and I will add you to the first post!

Edit: Mirdini has joined the ranks of JUDGE! Sexiness levels of the collective drastically increase!

i have a suggestion for a theme.

Medieval Office. Yes, it's pretty much the Knights of the Round Table sending each other increasingly silly letters about all the paperwork they have to do, their sex lives, who took the Royal Stapler, etc

all in complex, jester-like language

i'unno if i'll write but i'll sign up

I'm in.

Both Sanzh and Anomaly are in!

It seems that RobustLaser and Anomaly have similar themes. I'm sure you can both come up with something unique, but If either of you would like a re-roll, just let me know!

Para and I are in as a team

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Yes, but we all decided to include one for our own reasons.

Heck, Schazer's wasn't even a form so much as character suggestions.

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No! Text adventures can take whatever format you like, soliciting suggestions for characters is no more "correct" than jumping straight into the story you've got in mind.

Oh, sorry, I was responding to the second sentence there, not the first.

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As DF and Schazer have already said, Anyway you'd like to structure your Text-venture is great!

Just popping in to say that signups are officially closed

The contest will go for 1 month from the start date so...April 10th will be the end of the contest period.

If you didn't get to sign up, but are interested in reading, commenting, and judging these adventures, send me a PM and you can join the elite ranks or myself and Mirdini.

[14:30] <Agenriel> I'M REENTERING MY PREVIOUS TWS INTO THE CURRENT CONTEST
[14:31] <Agenriel> LET THE JUDGES BE CONFUSED
[14:31] <Agenriel> MUAHAHAHAHAHA

Looks like the Edu-Chair slapped someone back into the mid 2011's.

I'm gonna chalk this up to "Time-Travel Shenanigans"

Hello (TWS) Authors and Readers!

As you know the deadline for TWS is TOMORROW! April 10th! It's been a blast seeing these adventures get started and honestly, I'm curious for more! TWS is meant to encourage a fun foray into textventures, and ending it now would be a tad premature!

So, after some shady deliberations, it has been determined that The Write Stuff deadline will be extended until May 22nd!

HOWEVER! It might be better to think of this extra month as ROUND 2! Much like a boxing match, or halftime at a game, you have a chance to re-focus, size up the competition, and really show the crowd what you've got!

Just as every sport has it's commentators, however, expect some Round 1 Accolades tomorrow! You guys have really earned it!

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SpoilerAlso, if you have the chance, read through your competitors textventures and make some suggestions! I've put links in the descriptions at the first post for easy access.

DING DING DING, FIGHT!